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Sunday, July 26, 2015

Watership Down, by Richard Adams

This novel is an amazing epic of action and adventure…starring
rabbits! Fiver is the runt of his
litter, but he possesses unique powers to see into the future. When he has a vision that the Sandleford warren
will soon be destroyed by a real estate development, he teams up with his
brother Hazel to travel in search of a new home. After a dangerous journey, the two form a new
warren called Watership Down. All seems
well, at least until they cross paths with General Woundwort, the tyrant leader
of a nearby warren called Efrafra!

I absolutely loved the chance to dive into the world of the
rabbits. Mr. Adams created an entire
universe around his characters, including a rabbit language called Lapine. Even though wading through all the songs and
legends of the rabbits seemed a little tiresome at first, the huge amount of
background material served to pull me out of my own two-legged life. By the end of the book, I was completely
immersed in the realm of the rabbits! It
was easy enough for me to accept the idea that these animals could talk amongst
one another, form organized colonies with their own governments, and even wage
war!

Even though the main characters in Watership Down are a
bunch of cute (or sometimes not so cute!) rabbits, this book is really about
the theme of a small group facing off against established forms of order. There are always going to be risks involved
when you buck the system and try something new.
Sometimes, if the stakes are high enough, you might even be putting your
own life on the line! Pick up a copy of
Watership Down from your library and I can promise you, you’ll never look at pet shop rabbits the
same way…